Heat Wave

Published in Penguin Modern Classics, Penelope Lively's Heat Wave is a moving portrayal of a fragile family damaged and defined by adultery, and the lengths to which a mother will go to protect the ones she loves. Pauline is spending the summer at World's End, a cottage somewhere in the middle of England. This year the adjoining cottage is occupied by her daughter Teresa and baby grandson Luke; and, of course, Maurice, the man Teresa married. As the hot months unfold, Maurice grows ever more involved in the book he is writing - and with his female copy editor - and Pauline can only watch in dismay and anger as her daughter repeats her own mistakes in love. The heat and tension will lead to a violent, startling climax. Penelope Lively (b. 1933) was born in Cairo. She has twice been shortlisted for the Booker Prize; once in 1977 for her first novel, The Road to Lichfield , and again in 1984 for According to Mark . She later won the 1987 Booker Prize for her highly acclaimed novel Moon Tiger . Her novels include Passing On , City of the Mind , Cleopatra's Sister and Heat Wave , and many are published by Penguin. If you enjoyed Heat Wave , you might like Lively's Moon Tiger , also available in Penguin Modern Classics. 'Extraordinarily good, intelligent and perceptive ... very moving' Susan Hill, author of The Woman in Black '[ Heat Wave is] short, but the emotions are so intense and the writing so good that it punches well above its weight' Independent